History of LEGO Toys Also see: LEGO timeline The LEGO Group had humble beginnings in the workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen , a poor carpenter from Billund , Denmark . Ole Kirk started creating wooden toys in 1932 , but it wasn't until 1949 the famous plastic LEGO brick was created. There are many types of LEGO bricks and pieces. The design of LEGO bricks has changed much over time. The company name LEGO was coined by Christiansen from the Danish phrase leg godt, meaning "play well." The LEGO Group claims that "LEGO" means "I put together" or "I assemble" in Latin , though this is a rather liberal translation. In 1947 , Ole Kirk and Godtfred obtained samples of interlocking plastic bricks produced by the company Kiddicraft. These "Kiddicraft Self-Locking Building Bricks" were designed and patented in the UK by Mr. Hilary Harry Fisher Page, a child psychologist.

A few years later, in 1949 , Lego began producing similar bricks, calling them "Automatic Binding Bricks." These bricks, manufactured from cellulose acetate , were developed in the spirit of traditional wooden blocks that could be stacked upon one another; however, these plastic bricks could be "locked" together. They had several round "studs" on top, and a hollow rectangular bottom. They would stick together, but not so tightly that they couldn't be pulled apart. The use of plastic for toy manufacture was not highly regarded by retailers and consumers of the time. Many of the LEGO Group's shipments were returned, following poor sales; it was thought that plastic toys could never replace wooden ones. By 1954 , Christiansen's son, Godtfred, had become the junior managing director of the LEGO Group. It was his conversation with an overseas buyer that struck the idea of a toy system. Godtfred saw the immense potential in LEGO bricks to become a system for creative play, but the bricks still had some problems from a technical standpoint: their "locking" ability was limited, and they were not very versatile. It wasn't until 1958 that the modern-day brick design was developed.

The bricks were improved with hollow tubes in the underside of the brick. This added support in the base, enabling much better locking ability and improved versatility. That same year, Ole Kirk Christiansen died, and Godtfred inherited leadership of the company. In 1963 , the material used to create LEGO bricks, cellulose acetate, was dropped in favor of more stable acrylonitrile butadiene styrene , or ABS plastic, which is still use today. ABS is non-toxic, less prone to discoloration and warping, and is also more resistant to heat, acids, salt, and other chemicals than cellulose acetate. LEGO bricks manufactured from ABS plastic in 1963 still hold most of their shape and color 40 years later, and still neatly interlock with LEGO bricks manufactured today. Over the years many more LEGO sets, series, and pieces were created, with many innovative improvements and additions, culminating into the colorful versatile building toys that we know them as today. Manufacturing LEGO pieces LEGO brick design can be deceptively simple.

The vast array of pieces in the LEGO System of Play seem to require no explanation; since they are made for children, they are designed to be so straightforward as to require little or no instruction in how to use them. To achieve such apparent simplicity, a considerable amount of engineering and precision manufacturing must go into the creation of each LEGO piece. One of the key features of LEGO bricks throughout their history is that they are, first and foremost, part of a system. Each new series and set that is released is compatible with the rest of the system; LEGO pieces, regardless of their size, shape, or function, fit together with all other LEGO pieces in some way. The gear and motor mechanisms that come with the most advanced Technic sets, designed for teenagers, can be almost effortlessly attached to the DUPLO bricks designed for three-year-old children. This characteristic enables the LEGO system to grow and adapt as children get older; the infinite possibilities presented by the system keep many adults fascinated, as well. Manufacturing of LEGO bricks occurs at a number of locations around the world. As of 2003 , molding is done at one of two plants in Denmark and Switzerland .

Brick decorations and packaging may be done at plants in Denmark, Switzerland, U.S., South Korea and the Czech Republic . Annual production of LEGO bricks averages approximately 20 billion (2 ï¿½ 1010) per year, or about 600 per second. Bricks, beams, axles, minifigures, and all other elements in the LEGO system are manufactured to an exacting degree of tolerance. When snapped together, pieces must have just the right amount of "clutch power"; they must stay together until pulled apart. They cannot be too easy to pull apart, or the result will be LEGO creations that are unstable; they cannot be too difficult to pull apart, since the disassembly of one creation in order to build another is part of the LEGO appeal. In order for pieces to have just the right "clutch power", LEGO elements are manufactured within a tolerance of 2 micrometres (0.00008 in). One of the techniques that help to maintain this high degree of quality is the small capacity of the molds; some toy companies, in order to cut manufacturing costs, use molds capable of stamping out 60 pieces at a time.

LEGO molds generally have a much smaller capacity, and are precision-machined, often costing tens of thousands of dollars. The injection molds are equipped with sensors to detect fluctuations in pressure and temperature, either of which can degrade the quality of the resulting piece. Human inspectors meticulously check the output of the molds, to ensure that there are no significant variations in color or thickness. Worn-out molds are encased in the foundations of buildings to prevent their falling into competitors' hands. According to the LEGO Group, its molding processes are so accurate that only 18 bricks out of every million fail to meet its stringent standards. It is thanks to this care in manufacturing that the LEGO Group has maintained such a high degree of quality over the decades; it is also part of the reason that pieces manufactured over 40 years ago still interlock neatly with pieces manufactured today. A model of Trafalgar Square in London can be found in LEGOLAND Windsor.

LEGO Today Since it began producing plastic bricks, the LEGO Group has released many thousands of play sets themed on space, robots, pirates, medieval castles, dinosaurs, cities, suburbia, holiday locations, the Wild West , the Arctic , boats, racing cars, trains, Star Wars , Harry Potter and more. New pieces are being released constantly, allowing LEGO sets to become more and more versatile. There are also motors, gears, lights, sensors, and cameras available to be used with LEGO components. There are even special bricks, like the LEGO RCX that can be programmed with a personal computer to perform very complicated and useful tasks. These programmable bricks are sold under the name LEGO Mindstorms . There is also a FIRST Lego League for elementry and middle schools, in which contestants can compete their robotic entries in a compitetion that changes anually. The 2005 challenge was entitled No Limits , in which kids programmed their robots to acomplish household tasks that people with disabilities might have trouble with. LEGO bricks have now been used for purposes beyond play. A cult following of people who have used LEGO pieces to make sculptures, very large mosaics and complex machines has developed.

Some sculptures use hundreds of thousands of pieces and weigh tens of kilograms. Large mosaics, fully functional padlocks and pendulum clocks, and even a harpsichord ( have been constructed from LEGO pieces. One such masterpiece solves a Rubik's Cube through the use of LEGO motors and cameras, a task that many humans cannot accomplish. Photos of many fan creations like these can be seen at Brickshelf ( and at MOCpages ( A group which calls itself " AFOLs " (for "Adult Fans of LEGO") is an important demographic for The LEGO Group, which has recently begun reintroducing popular sets from previous years to appeal to this group. LEGO toys have been used in a number of unexpected ways. For example, at The Brick Testament ( the 'Reverend' Brendan Powell Smith has painstakingly built the Bible in LEGO pieces. The site features over 2,000 photographs of Biblical scenes. The website theory.org.uk ( (by academic David Gauntlett ) features LEGO versions of social theorists . A set of software tools called LDraw can be used to model possible LEGO creations in 3D.

Because of the high degree of uniformity in LEGO bricks, they have also been used in fields such as computer vision , in which knowing the exact dimensions and relative positions of objects is useful for creating test data. Economic difficulties In 2003, the LEGO Group faced a budget deficit of 1.4 billion DKK (220 million USD at then current exchange rates), causing president Poul Plougmann to be fired and Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen to take over. In the following year, almost one thousand employees were fired, due to budget cuts. However, in October, 2004, as the LEGO Group faced an even larger deficit, Kristiansen once again stepped down as president, while placing 800,000 DKK of his private funds in the company. Future plans for getting the company back on track include selling the LEGOLAND entertainment parks to another of the Kristansen family held companies and reducing its workforce. Moving production of its bricks to China like so many toy companies has also been mooted but is unlikely to occur within the next 5 years.

In 2005 , the LEGO Group reported a 2004 net loss of DKK 1.9 billion on a total turnover, including LEGO's amusement parks, of DKK 7,934 billion. The LEGO system in art Trafalgar Square is part of a LEGOLAND Windsor feature called Miniland. One hobby among enthusiasts is to re-create popular scenes from famous movies, using LEGO bricks for the scenery and LEGO play sets as characters. Such movies are called " LEGO movies ", "brickfilms", or "cinema LEGO". For example, the Monty Python and the Holy Grail DVD contained a version of the "Camelot" musical sequence redone with LEGO minifigures and accessories. Artists have also used LEGO sets with one of the more notorious examples being Polish artist Zbigniew Libera 's "LEGO Concentration Camp," a collection of mocked-up concentration camp -themed LEGO sets. [1] ( The Walt Disney World Resort features a sculpture of the Loch Ness Monster made of LEGO bricks. Another notable example is the award-winning Music video for the song "Fell in Love With a Girl" by the White Stripes .

Director Michel Gondry filmed a live version of the video, digitized the result, and then recreated it entirely with LEGO bricks. Several webcomics are illustrated with LEGO, notably Irregular Webcomic! . LEGO itself sells a line of sets named "LEGO Studios," which contain a LEGO web cam (repackaged Logitech USB Quickcam), software to record video on a computer, clear plastic rods which can be used to manipulate minifigures from off-camera, and a minifigure resembling Steven Spielberg . The LEGO trademark The LEGO Group's name has become so synonymous with its flagship toy that many use the words "Lego" or "Legos" to refer to the bricks themselves, and even to any plastic bricks resembling LEGO bricks, although the LEGO Group discourages such dilution of their trademark name. LEGO catalogs in the 1970s and 1980s contained a note that read: The word LEGOï¿½ is a brand name and is very special to all of us in the LEGO Group Companies. We would sincerely like your help in keeping it special.

Please always refer to our bricks as 'LEGO Bricks or Toys' and not 'LEGOS.' By doing so, you will be helping to protect and preserve a brand of which we are very proud and that stands for quality the world over. Thank you! Susan Williams, Consumer Services. "LEGO" is officially written in all uppercase letters. The company asserts that to protect its brand name, the word LEGO must always be used as an adjective, as in "LEGO set," "LEGO products," "LEGO universe," and so forth. Nevertheless, such corporate admonitions are frequently ignored as corporate intervention in the use of language, and the word lego is commonly used both as a noun to refer to LEGO bricks as well as as a generic noun referring to any kind of interlocking toy brick. Since the expiration of the last standing LEGO patent in 1988 , a number of companies have produced interlocking bricks that are similar to LEGO bricks. The toy company Tyco Toys produced such bricks for a time; other competitors include Mega Bloks and COKO . These competitor products are typically compatible with LEGO bricks, and are marketed at a lower cost than LEGO sets.

Such brands are somewhat troublesome to the LEGO Group, due to concerns about possible confusion between genuine LEGO products and LEGO product imitators. One such competitor is COKO, manufactured by Chinese company Tianjin COKO Toy Co., Ltd. In 2002 , Swiss LEGO subsidiary INTERLEGO AG brought lawsuit against the company for copyright infringement . A trial court found many COKO bricks to be infringing; COKO was ordered to cease manufacture of the infringing bricks, publish a formal apology in the Beijing Daily, and pay a small fee in damages to INTERLEGO. On appeal, the Beijing High People's Court upheld the trial court's ruling. [2] ( In 2003 the LEGO Group won a lawsuit in Norway against the marketing group Biltema for its sale of COKO products, on the grounds that the company used product confusion for marketing purposes. [3] Also in 2003, a large shipment of LEGO-like products marketed under the name "Enlighten" was seized by Finland customs authorities. The packaging of the Enlighten products was similar to official LEGO packaging. Their Chinese manufacturer failed to appear in court, and thus LEGO won a default action ordering the destruction of the shipment.

The LEGO Group footed the bill for the disposal of the 54,000 sets, citing a desire to avoid brand confusion and protect consumers from potentially inferior products. [4] The LEGO Group has attempted to trademark the "LEGO Indicia", the studded appearance of the LEGO brick, hoping to stop production of Mega Bloks. On May 24 , 2002 , the Federal Court of Canada dismissed the case, because the LEGO brick's design is functional and therefore ineligible for trademark protection. [5] ( The LEGO Group's appeal of the decision was dismissed by the Federal Court of Appeal on July 14 , 2003 [6] ( but an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada is schedule for the spring of 2005 . LEGOLAND and retail stores LEGO has built several theme parks around the world, each known as LEGOLAND, featuring large-scale models, particularly of famous landmarks. The oldest of these is located in Billund , Denmark. Others followed: " LEGOLAND Windsor " (in England ), "LEGOLAND California" in Carlsbad , and "LEGOLAND Deutschland" in Gï¿½nzburg , Germany .

When the Mall of America opened in 1992 , one of its premier attractions, attached to the Camp Snoopy amusement park, was the LEGO Imagination Center. Two other LEGO Imagination Centers are located in the Downtown Disney areas of Walt Disney World and the Disneyland Resort . These two locations are large LEGO stores with lots of displays of LEGO statues as well as a play area with bins of bricks to build with; they offer a large selection of LEGO sets for sale, including sets which are advertised in LEGO catalogues as "Not Available In Any Store." October 2002 saw a significant change in the LEGO Group's direct retail policy with the opening of the first so-called "LEGO Brand Store" in Cologne, Germany . The second, in Milton Keynes , UK , followed very quickly - several dozen more opened world-wide over the next few years, and most of the existing stores have been remodelled on the new "Brand Store" template. One of the distinctive features of these new stores is the inclusion of a "Pick-A-Brick" system that allows customers to buy individual bricks in bulk quantities.

How a customer buys LEGO at a Pick-A-Brick is quite simple; Customers fill a large or small cup or bag with their choice of LEGO bricks from a large and varied selection and purchase it. The opening of most of these stores, including the 2003 opening of one in Birmingham 's Bull Ring shopping centre ( England ), have been marked by the production of a new, special, limited edition, commemorative LEGO piece. Trivia The LEGO Group was named one of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers in 2004 by Working Mothers magazine. "Legot" (or "leegot"), plural form of "lego" (or "leego") is also used as a Finnish slang term for human teeth, because of the rectangular shape of the teeth. Six eight-stud LEGO bricks of the same color can be put together in 102,981,500 ways, and just three bricks of the same color offer 1,060 combinations. See also LEGO timeline lists notable events in the chronology of the LEGO Group and its flagship product.

List of Lego themes is a list of all LEGO brands and "theme" sets ever made by LEGO External links LEGO | Brickipedia | Fandom powered by Wikia [ show ] History The LEGO Group had humble beginnings, starting in the workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen , a carpenter from Billund , Denmark. The word LEGO is a contraction of two Danish words leg and godt meaning play well. In 1916 , Christiansen bought a woodworking shop in Billund which had been in business since 1895 . He earned his living by constructing houses and furniture for farmers in the region, with the help of a small staff of apprentices. His workshop burned down in 1924 when a fire, lit by two of his young sons, ignited some wood shavings. Undaunted, Ole Kirk took the disaster as an opportunity to construct a larger workshop, and worked towards expanding his business even further; however, the Great Depression would soon have an impact on his livelihood. In finding ways to minimize production costs, Ole Kirk began producing miniature versions of his products as design aids. It was these miniature stepladders and ironing boards that inspired him to begin producing toys.

(Note: According to a LEGO employee in Denmark, Ole Kirk's move to toy production was actually inspired by the government, rather than self-motivated. Various literature appears to be to the contrary, implying that Ole Kirk actively decided to move on to toy manufacture. However, more personal recollections and retellings suggest that when Ole Kirk's carpentry shop was going out of business in 1932 , his local social worker suggested or otherwise encouraged him to make toys.) Four early LEGO wood toys with a later LEGO brick. In 1932, Ole Kirk's shop started making wooden pull toys , piggy banks, cars and trucks. He enjoyed a modest amount of success, but families were poor and often unable to afford such toys. Farmers in the area sometimes traded food in exchange for his toys; Ole Kirk found he had to continue producing practical furniture in addition to toys in order to stay in business. In the mid-1930s, the yo-yo toy fad gave him a brief period of activity, until it suddenly collapsed. Once again, Ole Kirk turned disadvantage to his favor, turning the disused yo-yo parts into wheels for a toy truck.

His son, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen , began working for him, taking an active role in the company. It was in 1934 that the company name LEGO was coined. Ole Kirk held a contest among his staff to see who could come up with the best name for the company, offering a bottle of homemade wine as a prize. Christiansen was considering two names himself, "Legio" (with the implication of a "Legion of toys") and "LEGO", a self-made contraction from the Danish phrase leg godt, meaning "play well." Later the LEGO Group discovered that "LEGO" can be loosely interpreted as "I put together" or "I assemble" in Latin. When plastic came into widespread use, Ole Kirk kept with the times and began producing plastic toys. One of the first modular toys to be produced was a truck that could be taken apart and re-assembled. In 1947 , Ole Kirk and Godtfred obtained samples of interlocking plastic bricks produced by the company Kiddicraft. These "Kiddicraft Self-Locking Building Bricks" were designed and patented by Mr. Hilary Harry Fisher Page , a British citizen.

In 1949 the LEGO Group began producing similar bricks, calling them "Automatic Binding Bricks." LEGO bricks , manufactured from cellulose acetate, were developed in the spirit of traditional wooden blocks that could be stacked upon one another; however, these plastic bricks could be "locked" together. They had several round "studs" on top, and a hollow rectangular bottom. They would stick together, but not so tightly that they could not be pulled apart. In 1953 , the bricks were given a new name: LEGO Mursten, or "LEGO Bricks." The use of plastic for toy manufacture was not highly regarded by retailers and consumers of the time. Many of the LEGO Group's shipments were returned, following poor sales; it was thought that plastic toys could never replace wooden ones. Despite such criticism, however, the Kirk Christiansens persevered. By 1954 , Godtfred had become the junior managing director of the LEGO Group.

It was his conversation with an overseas buyer that struck the idea of a toy "system." Godtfred saw the immense potential in LEGO bricks to become a system for creative play, but the bricks still had some problems from a technical standpoint: their "locking" ability was limited, and they were not very versatile. It was not until 1958 that the modern-day brick design was developed. The bricks were improved with hollow tubes in the underside of the brick. This added support in the base, enabling much better locking ability and improved versatility. That same year, Ole Kirk Christiansen died, and Godtfred inherited leadership of the company. Growth The LEGO Group matured a great deal over the next up and coming years. In 1959 , the Futura division was founded within the company. Its tiny staff was responsible for generating ideas for new sets. Another warehouse fire struck the LEGO Group in 1960 , consuming most of the company's inventory of wooden toys; fortunately for the company, the LEGO brick line was strong enough by then that the company decided to abandon production of wooden toys. By the end of the year, the staff of the LEGO Group had come to be over 450 total people.

1961 and 1962 saw the introduction of the first LEGO wheels, an addition that expanded the potential for building cars, trucks, buses and other vehicles from LEGO bricks. Also during this time, the LEGO Group introduced toys specifically targeted towards the pre-school market, and made an arrangement allowing Samsonite to begin producing and selling LEGO products in Canada, an arrangement that would continue until 1988 . There were more than 50 sets of bricks in the LEGO System of Play by this time. In 1963 , the material used to create LEGO bricks, cellulose acetate, was dropped in favor of more stable acrylonitrile butadiene styrene ( ABS plastic), which is still used today. ABS is non-toxic, is less prone to discoloration and warping, and is also more resistant to heat, acids, salt, and other chemicals than cellulose acetate. LEGO bricks manufactured from ABS plastic in 1963 still hold most of their shape and colour 50 years later, and still neatly interlock with the most recently manufactured LEGO bricks.[citation needed] 1964 was the first time that instruction manuals were included in LEGO sets.

One of the LEGO Group's most successful series, the LEGO train system , was first released in 1966 . The original train sets included a 4.5-volt motor and rails; two years later, a 12-volt motor was introduced. On June 7 , 1968 , the first LEGOLAND park was opened in Billund . This theme park featured elaborate models of miniature towns built entirely from LEGO bricks. The three acre (12,000 m²) park attracted 625,000 visitors in its first year alone. During the next 20 years, the park grew to more than eight times its original size, and eventually averaged close to a million paying visitors per year. More than eighteen million LEGO sets were sold in 1968 . In 1969 , the DUPLO system went on sale. This was a newly developed system, targeted towards younger children; DUPLO bricks are much larger than LEGO bricks, making them safer for very young children, but the two systems are compatible: LEGO bricks can be fitted neatly onto DUPLO bricks, making the transition to the LEGO system easily made as children outgrow their DUPLO bricks.

The prefix "du" in DUPLO refers to the number 2, of which, a duplo brick is exactly twice the dimension of a LEGO building brick (2x height by 2x width by 2x depth = 8x the volume of a brick) The 1960s were such a period of growth for the LEGO Group that by 1970 , one of the biggest questions they faced was how best to manage and control its expanding market. Expansion By 1970, the LEGO Group had a staff of more than 900. The coming decades marked considerable expansion into new frontiers of toy making and marketing. LEGO began to target the female market with the introduction of furniture pieces and dollhouses in 1971 . The LEGO universe expanded its transportation possibilities with the addition of boat and ship sets, with hull pieces that actually floated, in 1972 . During this same period, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen's son, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen , joined the managerial staff of the company, after earning business degrees in Switzerland and Denmark.

One of Kjeld's first achievements with the company was the foundation of manufacturing facilities, as well as a research and development department that would be responsible for keeping the company's manufacturing methods up to date. Human figures with posable arms made an appearance in 1974 in "LEGO family" sets, which went on to become the biggest sellers at the time; in the same year, an early version of the "minifigure" miniature LEGO person was introduced, but it was not posable and had no face printed on its head. A LEGO production plant was opened in Enfield, Connecticut in the United States. "Expert Series" sets were first introduced in 1975 , geared towards older, more experienced LEGO builders. This line soon developed into the "Expert Builder" sets, released in 1977 . These technical sets featured moving parts such as gears, differentials, cogs, levers, axles and universal joints, and permitted the construction of realistic models such as automobiles, with functional rack and pinion steering and lifelike engine movements. Finally, the LEGO world came together in 1978 with the addition of the LEGO " minifigure ".

These small LEGO people have posable arms and legs, and a friendly smile. The figure was used in many varieties of LEGO sets, allowing consumers to construct elaborate towns with buildings, roads, vehicles, trains, and boats, at the same scale, and populated with the smiling minifigure LEGO citizens. Another significant expansion to the LEGO line occurred in 1979 , with the creation of LEGO Space sets. Astronaut minifigures, rockets, lunar rovers and spaceships populated this successful series. The Scala series debuted in this year as well, featuring jewelry elements marketed towards young girls. Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen became the president of LEGO in this year; another decade concluded with LEGO toys still going strong. LEGO bricks had always had a constructive potential that was seen by some educators as being an invaluable asset in helping children to develop creativity and problem-solving abilities. Since the 1960s, teachers had been using LEGO bricks in the classroom for a variety of reasons. In 1980 , the LEGO Group established the Educational Products Department (eventually renamed LEGO Dacta , in 1989 ), specifically to expand the educational possibilities of their toys.

A packing and assembly factory opened in Switzerland, followed by another in Jutland, Denmark that manufactured LEGO tires. The second generation of LEGO trains appeared in 1981 . As before these were available in either 4.5 V (battery powered) or 12 V (mains powered), but a much wider variety of accessories were available, including working lights, remote-controlled points and signals, and decouplers. The "Expert Builder" series matured in 1982 , becoming the " Technic " series. August 13 of that year marked the LEGO Group's 50th anniversary; the book 50 Years of Play was published to commemorate the occasion. In the following year, the DUPLO system was expanded to include sets for even younger audiences, particularly infants; new sets included baby rattles and figures with adjustable limbs. The year after, LEGO minifigure citizens gained a realm of knights and horses, with the introduction of the first Castle sets. Light & Sound sets made their appearance in 1985 ; these sets included a battery pack with electrical lights, buzzers, and other accessories to add another dimension of realism to LEGO creations.

Also that year, the LEGO Group's educational division produced the Technic Computer Control, which was an educational system whereby Technic robots, trucks, and other motorized models could be controlled with a computer. Manaus, Brazil gained a LEGO factory in this year, as well. In 1984 , the Technic line was expanded with the addition of pneumatic components. In August 1988 , 38 children from 17 different countries took part in the first LEGO World Cup building contest, held in Billund. That same year, LEGO Canada was established. The LEGO line grew again in 1989 with the release of the LEGO Pirates series, which featured a variety of pirate ships, desert islands and treasure; the series was also the first to depart from the standard minifigure smiling face to create an array of piratical characters. The LEGO Group's Educational Products Department was renamed LEGO Dakta in this year; the name is derived from the Greek word "didactic", which roughly means "the study of the learning process." MIT's Dr.

Seymour Papert, from the Laboratory of Computer Learning, was named "LEGO Professor of Learning Research," after his ongoing work in linking the Logo programming language with LEGO products. A new series designed for advanced builders was released in 1990 . Three Model Team sets, including a race car and an off-road vehicle, featured a level of detail and realism not previously seen in any LEGO series. Where Technic was mechanically accurate, Model Team was visually and stylistically accurate. The LEGO Group became one of the top 10 toy companies in this year; it was the only toy company in Europe to be among the top 10. LEGOLAND Billund had more than one million visitors in this year, for the first time in its history. The first-ever "LEGO Professor of Business Dynamics," Xavier Gilbert, was appointed to an endowed chair at the International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland. LEGO Malaysia was also established in 1990. In 1991 , the LEGO Group standardized its electrical components and systems; the Trains and Technic motors were made 9V to bring the systems into line with the rest of the LEGO range.

Two Guinness records were set in 1992 using LEGO products: A castle made from 400,000 LEGO bricks, and measuring 4.45 meters by 5.22 meters, was built on Swedish television, and a LEGO railway line 545 meters in length, with three locomotives, was constructed. DUPLO was augmented with the addition of the Toolo line featuring a screwdriver, wrench, nuts and bolts; the Paradisa line, targeted towards girls, brought a variety of new pastel colors into the LEGO system and focused around horses and a beach theme. 1993 brought a DUPLO train and a parrot-shaped "brickvac" that could scoop LEGO. A model of St Paul's Cathedral in London can be seen in LEGOLAND Windsor . It is made of thousands of LEGO bricks. The rotating model of the London Eye in the background is also made of LEGO bricks. Early Prototypes of the LEGO minifigure had a variety of skin colors and facial expressions, but production designs used only a yellow skin color and standard smiling face. LEGO Pirates in 1989 expanded the array of facial expressions by adding beards and eye patches.

Soon the other themes caught on, ranging from sun glasses, lipstick, eye lashes, and so on. However, many of the older collectors resented the new look, saying they looked too "cartoon-ish" or "kiddy", and preferred the simplistic nature of the two eyes and smile. Nevertheless, from 1999 licensed series such as LEGO Star Wars and LEGO Harry Potter gave minifigures the personas of specific characters from their cinematic counterparts, but it was not until 2003 , with the introduction of LEGO Basketball , that the palette of skin tones broadened to include more lifelike colors. In the late 1990s, the LEGO Group brought out a series of new and specialized ranges aimed at particular demographics. The BIONICLE range uses Technic pieces and specialist moldings to create a set of action figures for boys, while Belville is a more conventional line aimed at girls and featuring large posable figures like those in the Technic range. A "LEGO 4 Juniors " group features 2-inch (51 mm) tall medium-sized figures ("medi-figure") without jointed arms, and longer legs than the classic LEGO minifigure.

In 2003, the LEGO Group introduced a completely new system, Clikits , aimed at girls and consisting of customizable plastic jewelry and accessories. In 2004, LEGO added the QUATRO brick, for ages 1–3. Much like DUPLO and the "du" prefix, a Quatro brick is 4 times the dimension of a regular LEGO brick, and is compatible with the DUPLO brick. Also that year, they created the second line of Knights Kingdom themed product. The late 1990s also saw the first products featuring licensed characters. In 1999, Star Wars LEGO and Winnie the Pooh DUPLO were released. These were followed by characters from Harry Potter to Steven Spielberg . Before this, LEGO characters were always designed in-house, and lacked the strong characterization of these licensed characters. A number of in-house characters after this point were strongly characterized with media utilization and non-LEGO System merchandising in mind, most notably BIONICLE. BIONICLE was one of LEGO's most popular series. It was also an entirely new thing for LEGO; it had a real, authentic story, with books, action-figure style beings, and an entirely new world.

Over the years, BIONICLE changed and grew, and eventually was discontinued. In 2004 , the LEGO company was losing lots of money. After trying a few things, they: Changed CEOs, sold the LEGOLAND theme parks to Merlin Entertainment, and discontinued many themes. The LEGO trademark The LEGO Group's name has become so synonymous with its flagship toy that many use the words "LEGO" (collectively) or "LEGOs" to refer to the bricks themselves, and even to any plastic bricks resembling LEGO bricks, although the LEGO Group discourages this as dilution of their trademark. LEGO catalogs in the 1970s and 1980s contained a note that read: The word LEGO® is a brand name and is very special to all of us in the LEGO Group Companies. We would sincerely like your help in keeping it special. Please always refer to our bricks as 'LEGO Bricks or Toys' and not 'legos.' By doing so, you will be helping to protect and preserve a brand of which we are very proud and that stands for quality the world over. Thank you! Susan Williams, Consumer Services. "LEGO" is officially written in all uppercase letters.

The company asserts that to protect its brand name, the word LEGO must always be used as an adjective, as in "LEGO set," "LEGO products," "LEGO universe," and so forth. Nevertheless, such corporate admonitions are frequently ignored as corporate intervention in the use of language, and the word lego is commonly used not only as a noun to refer to LEGO bricks but also as a generic term referring to any kind of interlocking toy brick. Design and manufacture Since their introduction in 1949, LEGO pieces of all varieties have been, first and foremost, part of a system. LEGO pieces from 1963 still interlock with pieces made today, despite radical changes in shape and design over the years. Retail LEGO sets for young children are compatible with those made for teenagers. Bricks, beams, axles, minifigures, and all other elements in the LEGO system are manufactured to an exacting degree of tolerance. When snapped together, pieces must have just the right amount of "clutch power"; they must stay together until pulled apart.

They cannot be too easy to pull apart, or the result will be LEGO creations that are unstable; they cannot be too difficult to pull apart, since the disassembly of one creation in order to build another is part of the LEGO appeal. In order for pieces to have just the right "clutch power", LEGO elements are manufactured within a tolerance of 2 micrometers (0.00008 in). Since 1963, LEGO pieces are manufactured from a strong, resilient plastic known as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, or ABS. Precision-machined, small-capacity molds are used, and human inspectors meticulously check the output of the molds, to eliminate significant variations in color or thickness. Worn-out molds are encased in the foundations of buildings to prevent their falling into competitors' hands. According to the LEGO Group, its molding processes are so accurate that only 18 bricks out of every million fail to meet its stringent standards. It is thanks to this care in manufacturing that the LEGO Group has maintained such a high degree of quality over the decades; this is one of the main reasons that pieces manufactured over 40 years ago still interlock neatly with pieces manufactured today.

Manufacturing of LEGO bricks occurs at a number of locations around the world. Molding is done at one of two plants in Denmark and Switzerland. Brick decorations and packaging is done at plants in Denmark, Switzerland, United States, South Korea, the Czech Republic and more recently, China. Annual production of LEGO bricks averages approximately 20 billion (2 × 1010) per year, or about 600 pieces per second. LEGO today Since it began producing plastic bricks, the LEGO Group has released thousands of play sets themed around Space, robots, Pirate , Vikings , Knight's Kingdom , Dinosaurs, cities, suburbia, holiday locations, Wild West , the Arctic , Ferrari , Trains , Spider-Man , Star Wars , Harry Potter , BIONICLE , and more. Sets containing new pieces are released frequently. In 2006 LEGO announced the procurement of worldwide toy rights with the cable TV channel Nickelodeon for building sets with themes from two hit TV shows, SpongeBob SquarePants and Avatar: The Last Airbender . There are also motors, gears, lights, sensors, and cameras available to be used with LEGO components.

There are even special bricks, like the LEGO RCX that can be programmed with a PC to perform very complicated and useful tasks. These programmable bricks are sold under the name LEGO Mindstorms . There are several competitions which use LEGO bricks and the RCX, among other microcontrollers, for robotics. The earliest, and likely the largest, is Botball, a national US middle- and high-school competition stemming from the MIT 6270 LEGO robotics tournament. A related competition is First LEGO League for elementary and middle schools. The international RoboCup Junior autonomous Soccer competition involves extensive use of LEGO Mindstorms equipment which is often pushed to its limits. LEGO Mindstorms provides primary and secondary school aged participants of RoboCup Junior an easy and intuitive introduction to robotics. It also allows advanced participants an opportunity to modify the LEGO Mindstorms platform, adding their own sensors and actuators, as well as other mechanical, electrical, electronic and software related systems. LEGO Group operates several LEGOland amusement parks in Europe and California. There are also several LEGO retail stores, including one in Walt Disney World's Downtown Disney area near Orlando, Florida and in the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota.

As of year end 2005 , there are 25 LEGO Brand Retail stores in the USA, a number of stores in Europe, and a franchised LEGO store in Abu Dhabi. Novel applications of LEGO LEGO bricks today are used for purposes beyond children's play. The LEGO Group itself has developed a form of business consultancy fostering creative thinking, called LEGO Serious Play, in which team members build metaphors of their organisational experiences using LEGO bricks, and work through imaginary scenarios using the visual device of the LEGO constructions and by exploring possibilities in a 'serious' form of 'play'. A cult following of people who have used LEGO pieces to make sculptures, very large mosaics and complex machines has developed. Some sculptures use hundreds of thousands of pieces and weigh tens of kilograms. Large mosaics, fully functional padlocks and pendulum clocks, a harpsichord and an inkjet printer (built by Google co-founder Larry Page while at the University of Michigan) have been constructed from LEGO pieces. One such masterpiece solves a Rubik's Cube through the use of LEGO motors and cameras, a task that many humans cannot accomplish. Even an eclipse-predicting computer was once built!

Photos of many fan creations like these can be seen at Brickshelf and at MOCpages . A group which calls itself " AFOLs " (for "Adult Fans of LEGO") is an important demographic for The LEGO Group, which has recently begun reintroducing popular sets from previous years to appeal to this group. The LEGO system in art One hobby among enthusiasts is to re-create popular scenes from famous movies, using LEGO bricks for the scenery and LEGO play sets as characters. Such movies are called "LEGO movies", "Brickfilms", or "cinema LEGO". They usually use stop-motion animation. For example, the Monty Python and the Holy Grail Special Edition DVD contained a version of the "Camelot" musical sequence redone with LEGO minifigures and accessories. Artists have also used LEGO sets with one of the more notorious examples being Polish artist Zbigniew Libera's "LEGO Concentration Camp," a collection of mocked-up concentration camp-themed LEGO sets. [1] The Little Artists have created an entire Modern Art collection in a LEGO Gallery. 'Art Craziest Nation' was shown at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, UK.

[2] Another notable example is the award-winning music video for the song "Fell in Love with a Girl" by the White Stripes. Director Michel Gondry filmed a live version of the video, digitized the result, and then recreated it entirely with LEGO bricks. In 2009, TV Presenter and Broadcaster James May and 1000 other volunteers built a full-size house in a vineyard in Surrey, England, complete with functioning toilet and hot shower, using 3.3 million LEGO bricks for his television show "James May's Toy Stories". [3] It was valued as a property at between £5000 and £20,000, and as a piece of art Paul Nelson of the University for the Creative Arts valued it at £500,000. [4] Due to issues over the license for the LEGO bricks and nobody purchasing the house after LEGOLAND Windsor rejected it over the cost and implications of moving the structure, it was demolished later that year. [5] Several webcomics are illustrated with LEGO, notably Irregular Webcomic!.

LEGO itself sells a line of sets named "LEGO Studios," which contains a LEGO web cam (repackaged Logitech USB Quickcam), software to record video on a computer, clear plastic rods which can be used to manipulate minifigures from off-camera, and a Director minifigure. Notes 7 85,747,377,755 Six eight-stud LEGO bricks of the same colour can be put together in 915,103,765 ways, and just three bricks of the same colour offer 1,560 combinations. The figure of 102,981,500 is often given for six pieces, but it is incorrect. The number 102,981,504 (four more than that figure) is the number of six-piece towers (of a height of six). The number of contiguous configurations for one through seven bricks, counting reflections but not counting rotations are shown in the table on the right. The L, E, G and O in LEGO are all capitalized (generally). LEGO is the world's largest tire manufacturer in terms of units. [1] Zeus vs Thor.

Epic Rap Battles of History Season 4 is animated with LEGO. References: The Entropy of LEGO, A LEGO Counting Problem, and OEIS Sequence A112389 in external links. References, and further reading The cult of Lego: why are people so in love with the colourful bricks? - Telegraph The cult of Lego: why are people so in love with the colourful bricks? Lego almost went bankrupt ten years ago, but now its building blocks are more popular than ever There were 1,750 Lego items made every second during 2013 Photo: GETTY By Elizabeth Anderson , Business Reporter 3:38PM GMT 06 Dec 2014 In an age of iPads and wi-fi enabled cuddly toys, the humble Lego brick has not only endured, it has survived and thrived against all odds. The number one toy among children, the colourful building bricks also have a devoted following among adults.

Self-proclaimed Lego artist Nathan Sawaya painstakingly recreated Michelangelo’s David from 16,349 bricks for his recent exhibition The Art Of The Brick, while a lifesize model of Santa Claus and his sleigh, complete with nine reindeer, has been put together in Covent Garden with 700,000 bricks by Lego building firm Bright Bricks. Psychologists suggest the idea of a Lego “cult” is in no way exaggerated. These small colourful blocks appeal to almost every individual, of any age, attracted by the idea of building things. And the appeal lies partly in the fact that the potential to build something is never-ending. A professor of mathematics calculated that there are more than 915m ways to combine six eight-stud Lego bricks. Related Articles The booming Lego blackmarket 24 Aug 2014 “Lego is a lot more than a toy – it’s a creative expression. We see a lot of adults hugely engaged with it. With Lego you can make the most amazing things — things you’d never imagine,” says Jorgen Vig Knudstorp, 46, at the opening of Lego’s new London office off Chancery Lane.

“And people continue to surprise us with their creations, especially if you think that the brick has been around for more than 50 years.” When Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen made the first interlocking brick in 1949, he took the name from the first two letters of the Danish phrase leg godt, meaning “play well”. Lego’s knobbly plastic bricks and yellow figures are now known all over the world. The business has stayed in the family, based in Billund, Denmark, a village with a population of 10,000. About 4,000 Lego staff are based there and at the first Legoland theme park. Knudstorp, who has been Lego’s chief executive for 10 years and was the first person outside the Kristiansen family to run the company, says: “People just love to make things. It’s deep in every human being.” Jorgen Vig Knudstorp at the opening of the new Lego office in London But things haven’t always been so clear cut. A decade ago, the business almost went under amid competition from hi-tech gadgets and fears people no longer wanted to play with plastic building bricks.

Lego faced competition from Mega Bloks, a Canadian company that exploited the expiry of Lego’s patents in the mid-1990s, and had also made unsuccessful and costly forays into children’s clothing, jewellery and computer games. The Danish company reported record losses of 1.6bn Danish kroner (£144m) in 2003 and breached covenants with its bankers. Private equity groups circled and there was speculation Lego would be gobbled up by rival toy giant Mattel. Knudstorp, a former management consultant at McKinsey, was brought in to rescue the company. After writing up a “back to basics” plan, he set in motion the biggest corporate turnaround in recent history. He shed products which were performing inadequately and cut costs dramatically. His radical approach paid off. After 10 years of growth, Lego announced record results for 2013. Profits before tax were 8.2bn Danish kroner (£800m) and revenues had quadrupled over the past decade.

This year, there are signs that record will be broken again after net profit rose by 14pc to 2.7bn kroner, and Lego overtook Mattel to become the world’s largest toy manufacturer. Lego creations are now a work of art In 2012, 45.7bn Lego bricks were produced at a rate of 5.2m per hour. Lego says that on average, every person in the world owns 94 Lego bricks. Tie-ins with a Lego film, Star Wars and Harry Potter have helped Lego connect with a new generation of young builders, although the company does not make it a part of company strategy. “We’ve learnt the hard way. The Lego film is very successful and there’s more to come there but we only have a partial ownership in that movie. If people want to create theme parks, books or video games, it’s great because it’s a way to embed the child even more in Lego but we don’t consider them new growth avenues for the company. We will focus on the brick and bringing it to more and more children,” says Knudstorp.

The Lego Movie has been a huge hit He adds that traditionally mothers and grandparents buy toys, but that in the case of Lego, fathers also get involved. However, questions about gender representation have arisen recently, with Lego at the centre of a furore over its portrayal of women. The company was criticised for its Lego Friends play set, which critics said reinforced stereotypes with its pink and purple building blocks and explicitly girly themes. Earlier this year, seven-year-old Charlotte Benjamin’s strongly-worded letter to the company criticising the lack of strong female characters went viral. When Lego released a range of women scientists this summer, they sold out, although Knudstorp says the move wasn’t to mollify feminist critics. “Since the 1950s, Lego has been equally for boys and girls. There’s no reason boys and girls shouldn’t be building the same things. It’s a horrible thing to say this is a boy’s toy, this is a girl’s.

We try to make a great creative toy and then we have some themes more targeted towards the typical girl or boy.” He adds that the female scientist range came about because an adult Lego female fan, who happened to be a scientist, thought it would be fun to make a set that displays her daily work life. It became a hit when she put the idea forward on the Lego Ideas Platform, which allows people to propose ideas to the company, and if successful they get 1pc of the revenue in return. The Lego sleigh in London's Covent Garden Asked whether there is any truth in the statistic that Lego buys its plastic for less than $1 a kilogram and turns it into bricks that sell for more than $75 a kilogram, Knudstorp says it’s not a relevant distinction. “When I pay for a newspaper, I pay for what is written on it. When you buy plastics from Lego, you’re not buying kilos of plastic – you’re buying a wonderful play experience.” Lego is now on a push to expand overseas. It has opened offices in Malaysia and Turkey and is expanding rapidly in China. As the middle class grows, Knudstorp says Lego will be the number one toy for children in emerging economies.

“The wealthier the country, there is more focus on learning and creativity. Therefore the willingness and ability to spend on Lego will increase. In the past 40 years, the price has been unchanged, although it has increased in nominal terms. That’s how I intend to keep it.” He says he’s loved Lego since he was a child, although he takes an unsentimental view of the bricks. “The play is in the building. After creating something wonderful, what you should do is tear it apart and make something else.”

Question: The name of which manufacturer is taken from a Danish phrase meaning 'play well'?
Answer: LEGO